Help ID these marks

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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bigpuff
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
Location (country): United States

Help ID these marks

Post by bigpuff »

Tank Details: 55 gallon, 1 juvenile GSP (1.75in), 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5ppm nitrate, salinity = 1.005-1.008.

Background: the tank started off with 2 GSPs but one started bullying the other one and took chunks out of several fins and possibly the body, so I took the aggressive one back. A couple days before I took the aggressive one back, the other (the one who is in the tank now) started getting very skinny and his belly became concave (he was always skinnier than the other, but never concave). Because of this, and the markings under his chin, I believed he had internal parasites. However, after treating with melafix (for the fins and incase the markings were bites) and IP meds, nothing seems to have changed. I realize it could just take time but I wanted to post his markings on here to see if you guys think they are IPs, puffer bites, or something else.

The main markings of concern are under his chin. He also has grey spots in various places over his body (these looks different to the under the chin markings), which are circled in the last photo, but he had similar grey spots when I got him and they quickly went away originally.
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Last edited by bigpuff on Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
bigpuff
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: Help ID these marks

Post by bigpuff »

Couldn't fit all the attachments in one post.
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bigpuff
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: Help ID these marks

Post by bigpuff »

Circled grey spots.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Help ID these marks

Post by Pufferpunk »

Pufferbites. I hope you can fatten up this fella soon, now that his competitor is gone.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
bigpuff
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: Help ID these marks

Post by bigpuff »

Thank you! So I will continue to treat for the melafix but should I continue the IP meds just in case? I suspected IP's for a while when I first got him because he was always noticibly skinner than the other.

I've been purposely over-feeding him with high quality, meaty foods for about 2 weeks but he still doesn't look any fuller.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Help ID these marks

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yes, do treat for IPs.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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